Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1887-09-08
GIVING AWAY A BIRTHRIeHT.

In treating of the subject OF storing
water in artificial lakes and reservoirs
for irrigating purposes in this State the
Lyon County Times says:
The press Of shis State should take che
matter up and urge that sn appropriation
be made for this purpose. for withous irri-
CATION the agricultural interests will never
amount to much, while with plenty OF
water Nevada can be made as thrifty and
prosperous an agricultural State as there
Is In the Union.
As a State policy that would do well
enough, and such legislation would be
wholesome and beneficial to the masses,
if the State had the money, which it has
not, to prosecute the work. But to place
the waters of the State in possession,
for all time, of . private corporation
would be neither wise nor polite. Ad'
dressing itself to the suggestion OF the
Times regarding State aid, the Virginia
Report advances the annexed hasty con.
clusion:
We would have had quite an appropria.
tion made by the last Legislature but for
the Silurian COW county representatives.
They would not even grant q franchise to
tap Lake Tahoe, although there was not q
dollar asked for the purpose. A Califor-
nian stood ready 70 put in $3.50, 600 II Col.
E. D. Boyle and two or three other gentle
men could get Q franchise in order to pro-
tect them in their investment; but no, the
s~~A-~-s A---1 Az A1Lo1s Aaku &aaynd IA
would cost something, and they could not
see how water in Eagle Valley would help
q potato crop in Smith Valley. Next
election elect men who will work for the
entire State, and stop jealousies and bick'
erings and we'll have q boom.
The bill to which allusion is made by
the Report was one of the worst meas.
ures ever introduced in the Nevada Leg.
islature, and the people in the western
portion of the State were particularly
fortunate when it failed of passage. 1t
aimed at nothing less than the giving
away to a syndicate of capitalists all Of
the waters of Lake Tahoe and the
streams flowing into the lake. We note
from the Senate Journal that the bill
cam in in the very last days of the ses'
sion, showing that the benefciaries of this
gigantic scheme did not care to have il
discussed generally throughout the State.
It is to be inferred that they wanted te
get it through with as little noise as pos
sible. The vote by which the measure
was defeated was taken March l, about
four days prior to the final adjournment.
The title of the bill will show what the
Act itself proposed to grant in perpetu'
ity. This is it.:
can ACT to authorize the construction
Of q tunnel and other conduits to diver
and distribute the waters of Lake Tahoe
and streams going into said lake."
There we have it; there is a franchise
to three or four individuals not worth
less than one hundred millions of dol
lars. 1t is the biggest grab ave at
tempted on this Coast. We have moth
ing against the individuals but, in the
interest of the State, we are glad they
did not succeed. Giving away Lake
Tahoe and all the streams tributary tt
it! Why not include the earth? Thii
would embrace every drop of water or
the east slope of the Sierra Nevads
mountains for sixty miles in length. Il
would dry up the Truckee river and turr
Pyramid Lake into an alkali fiat. Sucf
q franchise would be equivalent to vot
ing away the birthright of half the PEG
pie of the State. The mere idea il
monstrous. Let there be no such viciou.
legislation as this in Nevada if we never
get a boom.